Justice for destruction of indigenous base community project.

Justicia por la destrucción de proyecto comunitario de base indígena.

DE PLAZA CEREMONIAL INDÍGENA A BASUREROFROM INDIGENOUS CEREMONIAL PLAZA TO A GARBAGE DUMP

Naguake Ceremonial Plaza Destroyed in 2009

Naguake Community (Our Abundant Land Community) is a community that uses the indigenous culture as the driving force to achieve community self-sufficiency and sustainability. Our community has a system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors and traditions rooted in our indigenous heritage. This heritage is deeply reflected in the school-community activities, programs, and projects that have been implemented to achieve community improvement at the social, cultural and economic levels. We claim our indigenous heritage and identity based on multidisciplinary studies in the fields of anthropology, ethnography, sociology, geography and biology. These studies were conducted in the communities that make up today Naguake Community; located in the eastern region Boriken. Also, and very important, we claim an indigenous heritage based on results from genetic studies conducted in our community between 2010 and 2012. Results from these studies confirm that 60 percent of our population have indigenous genetic marker (mtDNA). For more information you can read about this study in the following link: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.22569/abstract The Naguake Ceremonial Plaza and community farm located in Yabucoa were destroyed in 2009 on the orders of both Municipal and Commonwealth Governments. In 2009, the New Progressive Party was in power at both the Municipal and Commonwealth levels. However, we want to make it clear that the decision to destroy the Plaza and farm came from one particular office and person without just cause: which we will reveal in due time; before 2016. We also want to make clear that the Plaza was not built by our Taino ancestors, and it is not an archaeological site. It is however, a Ceremonial Plaza built by the descendants of the Tainos. Our people spent long hours under the scorching sun working from sunrise to sunset. They spent days, weeks, and months building the Ceremonial Plaza and cultivating our community farm. What took our community months to build, they destroyed in a matter of hours. Our community is still recuperating from this ordeal and injustice. They witnessed their efforts vanish before their eyes. Despite our loss and sorrow, we have managed to continue with our struggle to achieve social justice, not only for our community but for indigenous communities throughout the Caribbean. The Naguake Ceremonial Plaza has become a living testimony of the resolve of our community to claim our indigenous entho-historical and cultural heritage. The east wall of the Plaza still remains and it has become our "Wailing Wall" and Mecca. It stands as a reminder of the tragic and unjust decisions and actions taken by our government officials. They tried to erase the uneraseable...our identity and commitment to revitalize our indigenous culture. The destruction of our Plaza and the injustice of their actions has only served to strengthen our resolve and commitment with our cause. We are not terrorists, separatists, subversives, or criminals…we are law aiding citizens that are exercising our democratic rights and demanding justice to be served. The Plaza has become the symbol of survival of our indigenous community and the focus of our movement to reclaim what is culturally, historically, and genetically ours...our indigenous identity. It is an identity that has been denied to us for over 525 years. The Naguake Ceremonial Plaza or Batey is a living testimony to the strength and resilience of the descendants of the original Indigenous people of our islands: Boriken, Bieke, Ay Ay, Qualie, Liamuiga, Qualichi, Waladli, Karoukera, Waitukubuli, Madinina, Yurumei, and Kairi. We say “our islands because Naguake Community is composed of the descendants of both Taino and Kalinago (Carib), as is the entire eastern region of Boriken: Humacao, Yabucoa, Maunabo, Naguabo and Bieke. We need your help to achieve social and cultural justice. With your support our community will achieve its mission of becoming the first indigenous base community in Puerto Rico. Do it for the future generations of boricuas who will grow up knowing their Taino culture, language, and traditions and more importantly, especially in today’s world, the values ​​that form part of our indigenous heritage: caring for the Earth and every living being, respecting others, cooperating to achieve community improvement.Please click and sign our petition to achieve social justice. Thank you.